Campus briefs

PROVO — The BYU men's golf team took advantage of fielding two teams as the Cougars "A" and "B" teams finished first and second, respectively, through two rounds at the PING Cougar Classic.

"We had a really tough time deciding between who would play on the A or B team," BYU assistant coach Todd Miller said. "Bruce (Brockbank) and I knew going in that there was a chance that our B could beat our A."

After one day of action the A team is ahead by one stroke. After shooting a first round 2-over 290, they stormed into the lead with a second round 4-under 284 to grab the lead.

Zac Blair led the way for the A team after shooting rounds of 70 and 71, good for a 3-under 141. Blair is tied for fourth.

While Blair was the highlight of the A team, Mike Jurca was the brightest spot for the Cougars on day one. Jurca shot eight birdies along with three bogies in the first two rounds, carding a 5-under 139 good for first place overall.

"Mike has been playing fabulous golf for the last month," Miller said "We had a good feeling that he was going to play well during the tournament."

Jurca, who recently returned from a mission, is playing in his first tournament of his BYU career. Prior to his mission he redshirted during the 2008-09 season.

Along with Jurca and Blair, the rest of the Cougars are playing solid golf. In total, seven BYU golfers are in the top 20 after two rounds of competition.

"Our guys understood that it would be a tough day in this cold," Miller said. "We need to get off to a good steady start tomorrow because we know that the teams behind us are capable of playing great golf. We can't give them any hope of a comeback."

The tournament will conclude on Saturday with a 9:30 a.m. MDT start time.e.

UTAH STATE TRACK: At Berkeley, Calif., Stephanie Burt won the 3,000m steeplechase with a personal-best time of 10:57.56 on Friday, Day 1 of the two day California hosted Brutus Hamilton Open and Invitational.

UTAH STATE GOLF: At Provo, Utah State's Tanner Higham is currently tied for 17th-place with a 3-over par 147 (73-74) after the first two rounds of the BYU hosted PING Cougar Classic held here at the Riverside Country Club Friday.

Utah State currently sits in ninth-place in the nine-team field with a 27-over 603 (302-301). BYU is in first-place after the first two rounds with a 2-under 574 (290-284), while the Cougars' Mike Jurca sits atop the leader board with a 5-under 139 (70-69).

Higham, a sophomore from Shelley, Idaho shot a 1-over 73 during his first round before carding a 2-over 74 on his second 18-holes. Freshman Tanner Jenson (Parker, Colo.) is tied for 26th for USU with a 5-over 149 (73-76), while freshman Andrew Paulson (Sandy, Utah) is tied for 33rd with a 7-over 151 (79-72). Junior Brendan Dennis (Roosevelt, Utah) is tied for 47th with a 13-over 157 (77-80) and senior Chanse Godderidge (Smithfield, Utah) is in 51st-place with a 21-over 165 (86-79).

Utah State also has two individuals competing as freshman Brennan Coburn (Layton, Utah) is tied for 29th with a 6-over 150 (75-75) and senior Cobie Lunsford (Evanston, Wyo.) is tied for 42nd with a 9-over 153 (74-79)

Teams will tee off on Saturday in the final round of the PING Cougar Classic beginning at 9:30 a.m.

TEAM RESULTS

1. BYU – 290-284 --- 574 (-2)

2. BYU (B) – 285-290 --- 575 (-1)

3. Colorado State – 285-293 --- 578 (+2)

4. UNLV – 292-288 --- 580 (+4)

5. Air Force – 291-294 --- 585 (+9)

6. Southern Utah – 286-302 --- 588 (+12)

7. Boise State – 296-295 --- 591 (+15)

8. Wyoming – 306-293 --- 599 (+23)

9. UTAH STATE – 302-301 --- 603 (+27)

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

1. Mike Jurca, BYU – 70-69 --- 139 (-5)

2. Zahkai Brown, Colorado State – 68-72 --- 140 (-4)

2. Jeff Evans, Southern Utah – 67-73 --- 140 (-4)

4. Kevin Penner, UNLV – 72-69 --- 141 (-3)

4. Zachary Blair, BYU – 70-71 --- 141 (-3)

UTAH STATE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

T17. Tanner Higham – 73-74 --- 147 (+3)

T26. Tanner Jenson – 73-76 --- 149 (+5)

T33. Andrew Paulson – 79-72 --- 151 (+7)

T47. Brendan Dennis – 77-80 --- 157 (+13)

51. Chanse Godderidge – 86-79 - 165 (+21)

T29. Brennan Coburn – 75-75 --- 150 (+6)

T42. Cobie Lunsford – 74-79 --- 153 (+9)

SUU TENNIS: At Kansas City, Mo., top-seeded Oral Roberts put an end to Southern Utah's 2012 women's tennis season Friday with a 4-1 win in the semifinal round of the Summit League tournament. The match was played at the Plaza Tennis Center.

SUU lost the doubles point after Iryna Khatsko and Kristin Gray topped Ksusha Johnson and Lisa Pleskan at No. 2 and taking a win at No. 3 by default as the short-handed Thunderbirds did not field a team in the position. SUU's Alex Ivanova and Olia Tatarchenko were leading Lina Semenova and Hailey Martin 7-2 when the point was decided and that match was halted.

The Thunderbirds got a point when Tatarchenko beat Hailey Martin 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3, but the Golden Eagles got points at No. 6, where they were unopposed, at No. 5 where Marizanne Bouwer defeated Afton Staheli 6-1, 6-0 and at No. 2 where Semenova got past Ivanova 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) to clinch the match.

Johnson and Pleskan were both into their third set when the match was halted. Johnson won the first set 6-4 at No. 1 against Khatsko before losing the second 6-2 and was trailing 1-0 in the third set. Pleskan split the first two sets, 6-4, 4-6, with Kristin Gray and they had not begun the third when the match ended.

SUU finished the season with a 9-10 record while ORU moves on to meet IPFW in the finals on Saturday.